TYRE PHOENICIA 112AD Hercules Melkart Club Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i53743

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TYRE PHOENICIA 112AD Hercules Melkart Club Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i53743:
$292.50

Item: i53743

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city ofTyre inPhoenicia,Time of Roman EmperorTrajan
Bronze 23mm (12.14 grams) Struck year 238 of the City Era, = 112/113 A.D.
Reference:cf. Sear GIC 5211
Laureate head of Hercules (Melqart) with lion skin knotted about neck, right.
MH-TPΟ/ΠΟΛ-ΕW acrossfields of club surmounted by monogram TYP; infield, date ΗΛΣ and Phoenicial letters ltst (\'of Tyre\'); all in oakwreath.

In the centuries following theMacedonian conquest, Tyre was subject first to the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt,then at the end of the 3rd century, to the Seleucids of Syria. In 126/5 the cityregained its autonomy and commenced a remarkable issue of silver and bronzecoins extending well into the Roman Imperial period. The famous silvertetradrachms (\'shekels\') of this series have achieved notoriety as the mostlikely coinage with which Judas was paid his \'thirty pieces of silver\' for thebetrayal of Christ.

You are offerding on the exactitem pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and LifetimeGuarantee of Authenticity.

Hercules is the Roman name for the Greekdivinehero Heracles, who was the son ofZeus (Roman equivalentJupiter) and the mortalAlcmene. Inclassical mythology, Hercules is famous for hisstrength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.

TheRomans adapted the Greek hero\'s iconography and myths for their literature andart under the name Hercules. In laterWestern art and literature and inpopular culture, Hercules is morecommonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was amultifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled laterartists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him. This articleprovides an introduction to representations of Hercules in thelater tradition.

Labors of Hercules

Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reachesof theGreco-Roman world. One cycle of theseadventures becamecanonical as the \"Twelve Labours,\" but the listhas variations. One traditional order of the labours is found in the Bibliotheca as follows:

Slay the Nemean Lion .
Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra .
Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis .
Capture the Erymanthian Boar .
Clean the Augean stables in a single day.
Slay the Stymphalian Birds .
Capture the Cretan Bull .
Steal the Mares of Diomedes .
Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta , Queen of the Amazons .
Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon .
Steal the apples of the Hesperides .
Capture and bring back Cerberus .

The Latin name Hercules was borrowed throughEtruscan, where it is represented variously asHeracle, Hercle, and other forms. Hercules wasa favorite subject forEtruscan art, and appears often onbronze mirrors. The Etruscan form Hercelerderives from the Greek Heracles viasyncope. A mild oath invoking Hercules (Hercule!or Mehercle!) was a commoninterjection inClassical Latin.

Baby Hercules strangling a snake sent to
kill him in his cradle (Roman marble, 2nd century CE)

Hercules had a number ofmyths that were distinctly Roman. One of theseis Hercules\' defeat ofCacus, who was terrorizing the countryside ofRome. The hero was associated with theAventine Hill through his sonAventinus.Mark Antony considered him a personal patrongod, as did the emperorCommodus. Hercules received various forms ofreligious veneration, including as adeity concerned with children and childbirth,in part because of myths about his precocious infancy, and in part because hefathered countless children. Roman brides wore a special belt tied with the \"knotof Hercules\", which was supposed to be hard to untie. The comicplaywright Plautus presents the myth of Hercules\'conception as a sex comedy in his play Amphitryon;Seneca wrote the tragedy Hercules Furensabout his bout with madness. During theRoman Imperial era, Hercules was worshippedlocally from Hispania throughGaul.

Medieval mythography

After the Roman Empire becameChristianized, mythological narratives wereoften reinterpreted asallegory, influenced by the philosophy oflate antiquity. In the 4th century,Servius had described Hercules\' return from theunderworld as representing his ability to overcome earthly desires and vices, orthe earth itself as a consumer of bodies. In medieval mythography, Hercules wasone of the heroes seen as a strong role model who demonstrated both valor andwisdom, with the monsters he battles as moral obstacles. Oneglossator noted that whenHercules became a constellation, he showed thatstrength was necessary to gain entrance to Heaven.

Medieval mythography was written almost entirely in Latin, and original Greektexts were little used as sources for Hercules\' myths.

Renaissancemythography

The Renaissance and the invention of theprinting press brought a renewed interest inand publication of Greek literature. Renaissance mythography drew moreextensively on the Greek tradition of Heracles, typically under the Romanizedname Hercules, or the alternate nameAlcides. In a chapter of his book Mythologiae (1567), the influential mythographerNatale Conti collected and summarized anextensive range of myths concerning the birth, adventures, and death of the herounder his Roman name Hercules. Conti begins his lengthy chapter on Hercules withan overview description that continues the moralizing impulse of the MiddleAges:

Hercules, who subdued and destroyed monsters, bandits, and criminals, was justly famous and renowned for his great courage. His great and glorious reputation was worldwide, and so firmly entrenched that he\'ll always be remembered. In fact the ancients honored him with his own temples, altars, ceremonies, and priests. But it was his wisdom and great soul that earned those honors; noble blood, physical strength, and political power just aren\'t good enough.

Tyre was founded around2750 BC according toHerodotus and it appears on monuments as earlyas1300 BC.Philo of Byblos (inEusebius) quotes the antiquarian authoritySanchuniathon as stating that it was firstoccupied by one Hypsuranius. Sanchuniathon\'s work is said to be dedicated to\"Abibalus king of Berytus\" -- possibly the Abibaal who was king of Tyre.

There are tenAmarna letters dated1350 BC from the mayor,Abi-Milku, written toAkenaten. The subject is often water, wood, andthe Habiru overtaking the countryside, of themainland, and how it affected the island-city.

Early history

Thecommerce of the ancient world was gathered into the warehouses of Tyre. \"Tyrianmerchants were the first who ventured to navigate the Mediterranean waters; andthey founded theircolonies on the coasts and neighbouring islandsof the Aegean Sea, inGreece, on thenorthern coast of Africa, atCarthage and other places, inSicily andCorsica, inSpain atTartessus, and even beyond thepillars of Hercules at Gadeira (Cádiz)\"In the time ofKing David (c. 1000 BC), a friendly alliancewas entered into between the Kingdoms ofIsrael and Tyre, which was ruled byHiram I. The city of Tyre was particularlyknown for the production of a rare and extraordinarily expensive sort ofpurpledye,produced from the murex shellfish, known asTyrian purple. This color was, in many culturesof ancient times,reserved for the use of royalty, or at leastnobility.

It was often attacked by Egypt, besieged byShalmaneser V, who was assisted by thePhoenicians of the mainland, for five years,and byNebuchadnezzar (586–573BC) for thirteen years, without success, although a compromise peacewas made in which Tyre paidtribute to theBabylonians. It later fell under the power ofthe Persians.

In332 BC, the city was conquered byAlexander the Great, aftera siege of seven months in which he built thecauseway from the mainland to the island,but it continued to maintain much of its commercial importance until theChristian era. The presence of the causeway affected water currents nearby,causing sediment to build up, making the connection permanent.

In315 BC, Alexander\'s former generalAntigonus began his own siege of Tyre,taking the city a year later.

In126 BC, Tyre regained its independence (fromtheSeleucids)and was allowed to keep much of its independence when the area became a Romanprovince in 64 BC.

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